1975

1974	1975	1976

(Auroculture:) “It was the 31st March, Jim's [in charge of Mango Grove / Le Ferme] birthday. I had decided to bring as a birthday present 18 differently coloured Protection plants. I had hired a jeep for this purpose and it was happily moving with all the Protection plants toward Auroville. Suddenly before the old road into Auroville I had an interesting experience. Somehow it was clear that Mother had defeated the Lord of Falsehood and that the balance was in favour of Truth and the New Consciousness. The Lord of Falsehood had not only been defeated but he surrendered and dissolved. The next thing that happened, the normal road to Auroville was closed and for this reason the road leading past ‘Utility’ had to be used. Coming out of what is now ‘Protection’, the jeep instead of turning left towards ‘Aspiration’, turned right. As it had already been an unusual morning I decided not to interfere but to watch what would unfold next.
         It is difficult to explain how one knows or sees things that to the normal mind do not exist. So as I was already in an observing mood I just watched a huge solid wall of protection establishing itself coming out of the jeep. Wherever the jeep passed the wall was there. On the journey went, towards the Matrimandir and as at that time there was no fence either around the Garden or the Matrimandir itself the jeep freely went around the Matrimandir and continued leaving its wall of protection around the Matrimandir as well, then as if all this was the most obvious thing to be done, the jeep left the Matrimandir area and proceeded towards ‘Aspiration’ and finally ‘Mango Grove’, all of it totally without my intervention.”

(Savitra:) “‘Auroson's Home’ was the chrysalis for these first embryonic movements of a free Auroville. It was the focus of the ferment, the place of incubation. It had been dedicated by the Mother as ‘a new house for a new consciousness’.
         A series of decisions took place at Auroson's during those last days of October between a number of Auroville residents who had felt that things had gone too far, that Auroville was slowly being suffocated by the SAS and its Chairman, that one by one, all of Auroville's attempts to become and to express itself were being squeezed out before it could be born. All of the life-lines were being cut: we had no chance to determine our priorities, no way to receive our finances, no way to represent or communicate ourselves, no way to even be recognized except through the SAS. Even the land we worked on was held in their name. They could swallow us alive and everything was legal.
         It was not long before these talks and the questions which they forced us to ask ourselves led to the inevitable: Auroville had to be free. Auroville could no longer be imposed upon, would no longer meekly submit to the grip that was tightening ...
         The conclusions were now inescapable. It was only a question of how, of methods. The most logical, though perhaps not the most inspiring course, was to seek an independent legal status for Auroville whereby it could freely exercise its living functions which now had been usurped by the Executive Committee of the SAS. Something which could offer a protection, even if only transitionally, so that Auroville could live according to its Charter whose first line says: “Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole.”
         ...
         And so it was, as if out of some ancient allegory, some archetypal myth, that Shyamsunder handed over a document to four Aurovilians that he had long ago prepared, which had been lying dormant for a year when men like Roger had first conspired to carve Auroville out of the Empire of the SAS – a document called “Memorandum of Association and Rules and Regulations of Auroville”. It was a legal document to be used for the formal registration of a Society called “Auroville”.
         There it was. Ready-made. Immediately usable. Tempting. And ironically modelled upon the Constitution of the SAS, the very body which Auroville was seeking its freedom from. ...”

(Amrit:) “On 4th November 1975, my neighbor in Certitude, Shyama, approached and requested me to witness a document seeking the formation of the ‘Auroville Society’, in contradistinction to the founding body of Auroville, the Sri Aurobindo Society. Finding this petition for a say in the affairs of Auroville eminently reasonable, I signed, little knowing the enormous consequences that were to follow upon this simple act by a small group of Auroville residents. Frederick, Toine, Ruud, Yusuf, Shraddhavan, Rajan and Boris were the primary signatories, with Shyama and myself witness signatories. By the next day, the 5th November 1975 – the ninth anniversary of my arrival in India – the entire community, as well as the Sri Aurobindo Society, were aware of this action, provoking a general uproar in Auroville.
         The French contingent was particularly upset, angry that they had not been consulted, eventually convening a general Auroville meeting within a few days on 10th November under the Banyan Tree in the center of Auroville. As an interesting aside – apparently trivial but more important than might be considered at first glance – a young child, during the meeting's convocation, witnessed numerous gods of the Hindu pantheon, Ganesh, Krishna, etc. sitting with us. ...
         It became starkly evident that most in Auroville did not support this action, deemed unnecessary and provocative, especially since it had been done without the consent of the general Auroville community. Suffice it to say, in defense of this controversial move, at the time there was no cohesive Auroville community organization as exists today. Since all organizational powers were in the hands of the Sri Aurobindo Society, the Auroville residents had little to no voice in the basic affairs of Auroville. This was, in fact, the crux of the problem.
         Run by a handful of Indians of the ‘Marwari’ or business caste, the Sri Aurobindo Society or ‘SAS’ tended to be authoritarian, though at the time benevolently so. Naturally structured upon the basic patterns of Indian society, its paternalism was not always harmonious with the occasional raucous individualism of its residents, mainly of Western origin. And this cultural conflict eventually became the undoing of the SAS's administration of Auroville. Accused of high-handedness in the decision-making processes of Auroville, totally excluding its residents, as well of financial irregularities, the SAS became increasingly at odds with the main body of the community, regarding them more as children than as equals.
         On top of this basic incompatibility of cultural temperaments were the conflicts, namely power struggles, that erupted after the passing of the Mother. Somehow, while alive She had managed to keep in check the competing interests of various individuals and faction in the Ashram and Auroville. With the Mother no longer present physically to command their devotion, that restraint disappeared. A battle ensued between Navajata, the titular head of the SAS, and Shyam Sunder, the Treasurer and for a year or so, also the General Secretary of the SAS. The upshot of this fight was the registration of the ‘Auroville Society’, supported and guided by Shyam Sunder against his adversary Navajata.
         Initially my naivety regarded the developing situation as the simple consequence of the aspiration of Auroville residents for a more equal role in the decisions of the community. However, as time passed, becoming apparent was the complexity of the conflict, originating in the various divisions in the Ashram itself.
         With the passage of time, Auroville split into exactly the various factions headed by those closest to the Mother: those supporting the SAS and Navajata, primarily some local Tamil people, North Indians, and a few foreigners with close ties to the Ashram; the bulk of the Auroville community, calling itself the ‘Collective’, – itself riven by its own divisions – in its earlier phase of the ‘Auroville Society’ guided by Shyam Sunder, and later by Satprem, a Frenchman and one of the secretaries of the Mother; and finally the ‘Neutrals’ fundamentally in disagreement with both sides, subsequently backed by Shyam Sunder.”

(Amrit:) “Following the formation of the ‘Auroville Society’ on 4th November 1975, two signatories, Shraddhavan and Rajan, had been convinced by the SAS to withdraw their support. By late December the Executive Board of the SAS called me for an interview regarding the renewal of my visa. Upon being seated before this Board of the three main officers, Navajata, as well as Harikant and Dyuman, both also Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trustees, I was immediately confronted with Navajata's very blunt but honest statement: “If will not beat around the bush then stab you in the back later. I say very clearly that if you do not withdraw your support from the ‘Auroville Society’ and collaborate with us, you will have to go. Do you support the Auroville Society?” I answered simply, “Yes.” “Then you must leave,” they responded.
         I explained to them that with good will and the openness to discuss the problems, surely a solution could be found, interjecting that my first loyalty was to the Mother, then to Auroville. They answered that loyalty to the Mother was very fine, but collaboration, basically total capitulation was their demand. “If this is the case, I would like my visa papers,” I replied. Quite surprised by my response, they hesitantly sidestepped, “Oh, it has not yet been decided. You will be informed.”
         What struck me most strongly was the inability of Navajata during the entire interview even once to look directly at me, keeping his regard lowered and staring at the table. I sensed his discomfort at embarking on a course of action he knew was wrong.”

(Francis:) “So then in 1975 when the revolution began, Savitra and I got quit notices. Just the fact that they wanted to throw me out, made me want to stay all that much more. I probably would have wandered off myself if they didn't do that to me. The divine play of things. So we were thrown out.”

{{#ask:Year::1975 |?Author |format=broadtable |limit=500 |link=all |headers=show |mainlabel=Articles from 1975 |searchlabel=... further results |class=sortable wikitable smwtable }}

---

{{#ask:Yr::1975 |searchlabel=      more... }}